We had six races IN TOTAL for the June/Preseason series and I have yet to splash the Lightning this year. This spring had not been kind to me sailing wise. I raced on only 2 out of 8 possible days of sailing. Either too much wind or not enough and not enough time to get the Lightning ready until this weekend and then I found out too late my third could not make it on Sunday. Crud.
On to the recap…
It was beautiful late spring day on Saturday. The forecast was for sunny and clear skies and warming to a nice temperature for the day. We had another morning thermal before the westerly came in. It was a southeast and light with some puffs upwards of 8kn, just enough to get to the high side and maybe even hike a little. With some of the fleet traveling to regattas or having father’s day weekend obligations we only had six boats on the water.
The first race was a once around. The RC did not set a leeward mark until after we started so we all thought we were just going to finish to leeward. I had a great start right at the committee boat on the line with great speed. Brent Penwarden was also fast upwind and we battled until the rounding. I kept him behind for the win. We all stopped racing after Brent and I passed the line since we did not notice the leeward mark was there now.
The second race was a twice around with the leeward mark being used this time. I had an ok start with William getting just ahead of me. We had a quick right shift that caused us all to tack onto port as soon as possible. Brent went too far into the header before tacking. William and I drag raced to the west shore, with William being the faster boat. William was to windward of me so he waited to tack to the layline until I tacked and then when I did all I got was his bad air forcing me to tack twice more for clear air. He was gone. I gybed at the weather mark and William went straight, about a third of the way down I heard a noice to my right and I saw William capsized. Thank you William. I was far enough in front so that I only had to loosely protect my lead now. Joe Meade battled Brent for second with Brent getting ahead. William recovered the boat but finished in the back. It was a long course, more suitable for regatta length races, and therefore we had the RC shorten the course.
The third race was a once around and it was a good thing we shortened the course. Soon after the start the forecasted westerly started to take over from the thermal. There was still some tacking heading to the windward mark though. William and I went left and Brent and the other 3 went right. It was fairly even racing, I was clear ahead of everyone but it was close from Brent on back. The westerly really started to show as I got towards the committee boat and it got patchy. I fell into a hole and watched everyone catch up. Once the fleet was together it was a matter of who got the puffs to the leeward mark and it seemed like everyone was in front at one point. I managed to eke out ahead of William and Spence. Right at the leeward mark I tacked and stopped dead. This forced everyone to go behind and around me. William went farther before tacking and then had a board issue and capsized and then turtled. Brent had to go around William which took him out of the running. I somehow did not hit the mark while just floating there for what seemed like an eternity. All of a sudden I took off and everyone else was following me.
As the westerly had fully taken affect, we called it a day as it would’ve taken too long for the RC to setup a new course. I had to head in and run to a parade anyway so it was good timing.
With three seconds from two weeks ago and the three firsts today, I won the preseason. Hopefully I keep the good finishes going for the full season and give Chris a challenge. If everyone shows up, we could have a good battle going for the podium finishes. Chris has shown to be the class of our fleet with me, Bob Cole and Brent close behind and the ever improving Steve Bender and William right on our heels. The rest of the fleet has some learning to do, but I hope we are able to do sit downs after races and help these guys improve. Chris has scheduled a few practice days just for that. We will see.
Next up is the Horse Race this weekend. Forecast is for 7kn out of the South on Saturday and 0-2 on Sunday with a small chance of thunder storms both days. Then the Lightning Champagne Regatta the next weekend; that will be fun to do with no practice. Not.
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